Kent M. Swig, 36

Brown Harris Stevens, Co-chairman and co-owner

Where is Kent M. now?

President, Swig Equities

Embattled. Indebted. Estranged. Developer Kent Swig has struggled to avoid these descriptors. Mr. Swig joined the class of 1998 for bringing refreshing savvy to one of the oldest residential brokerages in the city, Brown Harris Stevens. But after the market went bust in late 2008, the real estate scion's professional and personal lives began to publicly unravel.

He lost mortgages on several Manhattan properties, reportedly owing $50 million to various lenders. He shuttered commercial brokerage Helmsley Spear three years after he bought it. Mr. Swig has also been besieged by lawsuits, including several by his father-in-law, real estate tycoon Harry Macklowe. This spring, Mr. Swig and his wife, Elizabeth, lost their Park Avenue apartment to foreclosure and began divorce proceedings, according to published reports.

Updated October 12, 2012
By Emily Denitto

Kent Swig met his wife through the same combination of destiny and serendipity that marks his career. When he was working with the Macklowe Organization in the mid-Eighties, Harry Macklowe set Mr. Swig up on a blind date with his daughter, Elizabeth. Both young people canceled—only to meet at a restaurant that night by chance. They fell in love before they knew each other's names.

Mr. Swig, who was born into a San Francisco real estate family, had studied Chinese history and law before his father's illness forced him into the business. Once inside, however, he was hooked.

Together with partners Arthur and Will Zeckendorf and David Burris, Mr. Swig has brought a new corporate savvy to Brown Harris Stevens, one of the oldest residential brokerages in the city. Since the group bought the company in 1995, revenues have doubled and operating expenses have dropped by 25%.

Mr. Swig's other real estate efforts include work with Swig Co. to expand its Fairmont Hotel chain. Swig Burris Equities, which Mr. Swig co-owns with Mr. Burris, has been making residential and commercial acquisitions in New York and London.

"I have a real love of architecture, and for me there's no place like New York," Mr. Swig says. "I'm lucky that my work keeps me close to both."